Tag Archive: Budget

Food photographs often are shot with careful plating, selective styling & generous lighting arrangement. However, one can even shoot food photographs with relative ease using absolutely basic resources at disposal.

If one is just beginning in food photography, most often he/she won’t have an array of crockery or extravagant lighting equipment to use. In this case, I recommend shooting the food in the same crockery you’re using to cook them.

The above photograph you see, is a simple example of how one can create beautiful food photographs with limited resources. Here, the light used is window light. The food rests in the cooking pan in which it was cooked. To be honest, I did not even took the cooking pan from the cooking range as we have a window just above the kitchen platform providing beautiful light. I just added a spoon to the pan & took this from an top angle. I slightly controlled the light streaming from window in this case but not to a large degree. Editing was kept to minimal. Isn’t this mouth-watering?

So, get into the kitchen & shoot some beautiful shots with the limited resources you have. Happy Photography Day.🙂

Food photography requires the viewer to salivate over the photograph. A good photograph always succeed in the viewer wanting to have the photographed food. However, since photography is static, we need to shoot it so that it tricks the mind into believing the underlying motion. Take for example, the steam captured in the food photograph makes the viewer feel its warmth & the steam also incites a ‘want to have right now’ feeling from the viewer. Believe it or not, a simple steam is a major element in food photographs. However creating steam is not a piece of cake. Here I’ll show you how can you create steam in your food photographs easily to make them more vibrant & appealing.

One can use the incense sticks(agarbatti) found at home to create steam. Simply light a few incense sticks & place them strategically in the frame so that they do not show up. The waft of steam from incense stick is pretty weak, so you’ll need at-least a couple to get the thick steam you desire. Also since, the burning incense stick outputs steam in a typical slender pattern, you’ll need to sculpt it with a paper fan. Alternately, one can even use dhoop sticks(thick incense sticks) to create a lot of steam. However, do note that incense sticks emit ash & that can mix easily with the food you’re photographing. Even the aroma of incense stick can mix with your food. So if you’re going to consume the food after photographing, using incense sticks is not a good idea. Also since the incense is burning there is always a risk of fire or props getting burnt, so be careful while placing & do monitor it time & again as you shoot.

Actually, creating steam with incense sticks is the most economical way to produce steam. Yes, it takes a lot of work to get the shape you desire & at-times it can be impractical for some foods. However, it does has the capability to spice up the occasional food shot. Off-course there are more better ways to create steam in food photography but that I’ll leave it to discuss for some other day.

Flashguns are often an accessory overlooked & under-estimated by most amateur-semi-amateur photographers. Sure, if not used properly they have a tendency to make your photos look amateurish but that doesn’t mean one should not use them at all. Learning how to use flash, is an important step in becoming a better photographer. To start with, if you’ve a look around in the flashgun arena most of them do not come cheap. This leaves one disappointed but you shouldn’t as there are alternatives. Off-course, the flashgun by your camera manufacturer will be the best match on your camera but if you’re learning, its better you start off with a cheaper alternative & then later on get your dream flashgun. One such option is the Simpex 522 Thinklite Speedlite. Let me take you through a review of this budget flashgun.

A flash-gun can do wonders to your photography. Simply using a flash in your photos can elevate them to a new level altogether. However, flash in his primary form is very unattractive & often needs to be used along-with other accessories like reflector, diffuser, flash gels etc to create the desired effect in the photographs. In this article, I’ll talk about flash gels. About creating flash gel for yourself.

An umbrella helps one to shield from rain or sun. An umbrella for a photographer does more than the above. Recently, I purchased a new umbrella for my photographic needs & off-course to shield me against the Mumbai monsoons.

Strong – No doubt a stronger umbrella will hold good for long time. I also wanted to make sure the umbrella could withstand some knocks during my photography shoots in addition to braving gutsy monsoon winds. For this, I picked up an umbrella having ten spokes(or whatever they are called) for added strength. The normal ones have 7-8 spokes.

Silver coated from inside – The silver coating from inside not only helps to avoid seepage of water inside umbrella but also makes the umbrella acts as a photographic umbrella for shoots.

Big in size – The umbrella is big in size & so I can easily shelter someone during rains without either of us getting half drenched. Another positive was that I wanted a big umbrella so it could act as a large source of light which we all know is great when it comes to photography.

The umbrella cost me Rs.350 & I feel its money well spent. So the next time you go out to buy a photography umbrella get an rainy umbrella or vice-versa like I did. This strengthen my belief that one doesn’t necessarily needs pro grade equipment’s for photography & at times its fun when you hack something from your regular stuff to help you satisfy your photography(or for the matter of fact any) needs.🙂